1. Field of the Invention
The present embodiments relate to a method of manufacturing a thin film transistor (TFT), a TFT manufactured using the method, and a flat panel display device comprising the TFT, and more particularly, to a method of manufacturing an organic TFT in which an organic semiconductor layer can be patterned in a simple manner, an organic TFT manufactured using the method, and a flat panel display device comprising the organic TFT.
2. Description of the Related Art
Flat panel display devices, such as liquid crystal display devices, organic and inorganic light emitting display devices, etc., include TFTs. The TFTs function as both switching devices to control the operation of pixels and driving devices to operate the pixels.
A TFT includes a semiconductor layer, which includes source and drain regions both doped with high concentration impurities and a channel region interposed between the source and drain regions, a gate electrode insulated from the semiconductor layer and located on a region corresponding to the channel region, and source and drain electrodes contacting the source and drain regions, respectively.
Recently developed flat panel display devices are often thin and flexible. In order to achieve flexibility, the flat panel display devices are manufactured using a plastic substrate instead of a conventional glass substrate. When the substrate is composed of plastic, the manufacturing process must be performed at a low temperature since the plastic substrate is unstable to heat. Therefore, a conventional poly silicon TFT which is manufactured using a high temperature process cannot be used.
To overcome this problem, a TFT including an organic semiconductor is used. The organic semiconductor layer can be manufactured at a low temperature, and thus, the TFT can be produced at low cost. Such an organic TFT is described in Korean Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-0049110.
However, in a conventional method of manufacturing an organic TFT, the organic semiconductor layer cannot be patterned with high accuracy and production costs cannot be satisfactorily reduced. Thus, there is a need to improve the accuracy of patterning and decrease the production costs.